The 'Love Chapter' (insert sick bucket here!)

So... lots and lots of things have been happening over the last couple of weeks!.. I've been over to New Zealand to the youth congress... that was pretty rad! Had heaps of fun and learnt heaps. Best of all, God really spoke to me in that week... he never ceases to amaze me with what he reveals to me.

While I was over in NZ i thought of about a million (ok, maybe not quite that many!) topics I wanted to blog on when I got home... but I'm going to go with the Love one today... I always almost puke (jokingly) when I hear that passage in 1 Corinthians read out. You know the one I mean- the Love Chapter.

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. "

I was pondering on this passage during the week, and realised that this passage actually applies to me! I may not be in a relationship, and I may not be getting married just yet!(to my knowledge anyway! lol), but I am called, just as much as any person in a relationship to demonstrate these qualities in my own life. If i am wanting to love other people as Jesus loves them, then I am called to be patient.. I am called to be kind.... I cannot keep record of wrongs.. and so on.. God really spoke to me and challenged me about this. Are you demonstrating these characteristics in your life?

Loving people isn't always going to be easy. There are going to be some times when people really test your patience... when it's hard to not keep a record of the wrongs done (particularly when they're against you), but with Gods grace it is possible. I mean who are we to talk?.. how much do we rebel against God and he still loves us. Shouldn't we be showing others and demonstrating to others that very same love?

In some other very exciting news, I've been accepted to Order614 down in Melbourne! and i'm moving there in ..... 11 days! Oh me gosh! I'm am very very very excited, and I can't wait to just soak in all that they have to teach me. Most of all I can't wait to see the ways that God is going to use me and change me.. I really just want to be all that he wants me to be!

Watch out Melbourne.. the alittlerevolutionoflove is coming your way soon!

For Him Alone!

Ness :-)

Lotsalove08!

Last year some friends and I had decided that we would nickname 2008 "lotsalove08"... for various reasons! You see, some of us had made a pact called "nolove07".. it was our quest to stay single for the whole of 2007, and we were successful... it was actually quite easy! lol. But the year was just amazing.. we were able to focus on ourselves.. more importantly, we were able to focus on our relationship with God without any distractions from the opposite sex!..

So.. we jokingly named 2008 lotsalove08. saying that after nolove07 there better be lotsalove08! At the time we meant lotsalove in terms of relationships.. but recently my thinking has been changed about this. To be honest, I don't really care if I go through another year of "nolove"... it doesn't phase me at all. If that's what God's will for my life at the moment is, then oopah! But regardless of my relationship status, i'm determined that this year will be full of love.. and lots of it!

Because if we're going to change the world.. if we're going to allow God to use us in mighty and powerful ways, we have to love. It's as simple as that. For without love, it is meaningless. If we want a revival, if we want a revolution, it has to start with love. Jesus did many miracles.. he raised Lazarus from the dead.. but he would have died again eventually, he fed the five thousand, but they would have been hungry again the next day... the miracles fade, but what people remembered was the love in which Jesus performed such things.

In his book "an irristible revolution" (a must read!) Shane Claiborne tells of how he went over to Calcutta to work alongside the Mother Teresa and the catholics. Mother Teresa said "Do not worry about your career. Concern yourself with your vocation, and that is to be lovers of Jesus."

That's what 2008 is going to be for me! it's going to be lotsalove08.. but love for God and love for others... i'm going to love recklessly... loving the unloveable.. sharing the message of the love of Jesus... that's my mission in life. I'm no longer concerned about pursuing worldly things, I'm not going to conform to the patterns of this world (rom 12:2).

For Him Alone!

Ness :-)